Pintercrack.

I'm addicted just like almost everyone else I know. Pintercrack has rocked me.

I want to keep track of a few of the recipe changes I've made. I've been doing this stupid, expensive, stupid, ridiculous, stupid low-carb diet for a couple of months now. I've essentially failed at it 'cause DESPITE the fact I've even added in exercise, I have lost all of one pound in the last MONTH! While I've had some cheats, those cheats have been in the form of a bite or two of something of Todd's. It's not like I'm ordering mashed potatoes or anything! At least I'm not gaining?
Anyhow, I want to keep track of some of the pintercrack recipes I've been making--and modifying. For the last month of school I ate roasted cauliflower for breakfast every. single. day. Ahh... nothing like the smell of cauliflower in the morning. Poor Todd. Anyhow, when I came across this recipe http://joandsue.blogspot.ca/2012/05/cauliflower-pizza-bites.html on pintercrack via Jo and Sue I had to try it. At 8 calories a bite it couldn't be all bad... right?
Well, it wasn't all good. Mine came out at 22.4 calories each. I think I made them a little large. And they resembled some kind of cookie. That was weird. You eat with your eyes, right? Well, it's hard to put something in your mouth that looks like a sweet but is actually a savory. I know. The pepperoni is staring you in the face, but somehow the cookie looking part is what stands out the most to me.

Anyhow, onto the changes.

I ran out of cottage cheese on the second batch. I used fat-free Chobani. Worked just fine.

• I tried a big crust. Boo. That didn't work.
• I roasted the cauliflower first. That saved loads of time.
• I've frozen the mix to see if I can make some from that later.
• I'll definitely add parmesean cheese to the mix.
• And a smidgen of some kind of cheese after they've baked. It'll make them more pizza like. I think it'd be good with a smidgen of TJ's fresh mozzarella cheese stick.
• Fresh herbs on top would also be good.
• I added red pepper instead of hot sauce.

And I think that's it...

Here's my sad little picture. Boy, I am NO photographer! And this is a freaking huge picture. Geez. Mom hates when I say freaking.

THIS PICTURE IS STOLEN FROM JO and SUE's website.

Post. Schmost.

So I post two or three times when I'm home from school. Novel idea. I think the fact that dear Eddie Ross has fallen off in his postings makes me feel better about not being much more than an annual poster. This is all for me, right?

Anyhow, so here's where we are with the house: perpetual hold. Actually, it's more like being on hold when you can put it on speaker phone and you're still able to get stuff done. We're getting small stuff done. And we're waiting. Todd drew up some remarkable plans for an addition. And then he revised them. Again. And again. And then I got picky. And he revised again! And then we met with a builder who gave us a bid. Wow. What a bid. our house is only going to cost a gazillion dollars, but we took it to the bank anyhow. And the banker didn't laugh at us. At least not yet.

It's weird 'cause this is the addition that will make this house THE house. Yeah, we'll still have a TON of work to do to it, but this is one of those things that makes it the place that we'll spend a good portion of forever in. I kinda like that. It kinda scares me too.

I want to get some other posts on here about a few other things... the bedroom redos, the new chairs, plans for the new rooms, and a few other things. Maybe I'll take a pintercrack break for a while to actually get something done on this front? Maybe.

A year?

Wow... it has been more than a year since I posted. I wish I could say that there was a good reason for that. There's not. We had an long summer this past year. We haven't done much work. I guess... well... I guess I just started facebooking instead. And Pinterest. Oh, pinterest, you do take up so much of my time. Sad. So sad.

And then there's MGB. Oh, how that little pooch o' ours has stolen my heart. I can't imagine our world without him in it. I'm really not sure I understood dog people 'til now. Having him makes me want to live in France. I'd really appreciate being able to bring him with us EVERYwhere... We are, however, totally fortunate to have two sisters who are willing to indulge our dogsitting needs. We call them his fairydogmothers. It's pretty accurate.

As far as the house goes, well... we're almost ready in the master. We started everything with this yellowish/greenish shag rug my grandmother gave us. I know. My grandmother? Yep. She's just that chic. It's not this whole retro kind of thing... it's something she used for about a year and then moved onto something else. That's my grandmother. Anyhow, we found some linen/cotton green curtains at el Barno de Pottery for a steal. We got four. And they sat. For over a year. I just took them to a friend to hem. I tried. Well, I almost tried to hem them. Todd made a headboard a few months ago... I helped. Well, I helped more than I usually do. I did more than just sweep. We found some beautiful fabric at Calico Corners and had two euro shams made. I did do some stitching to the duvet cover we found at Restoration Hardware last Christmas. I had to accomodate the not-quite-King but bigger-than-Queen bed situation we've got going on. It's not pretty but it worked. We found another linen and a friend made a bed skirt. Again, I was going to give it a shot, but... well... I'm so glad she did it. It doesn't look like crippetycrap. She also did this little neck roll in this fabulous fabric we found at Mary Jo's. And more pillows. We found two grey pillows at the GDC clearance sale. And it all worked together. I swear it helps to have a husband who is trained in color theory. All hail to thee, architecture major! We added a dresser with a greyish sort of wash and two night stands to boot. We also found a long benchish thing at Ikea that sort of grounds the space under one of the windows and affords us some storage. (Yay for storage!) And we painted... oh, we painted. Well Todd painted. And I smudged paint onto the trim. Over and over and over and over and over and over and... well, you get the picture.

I'm sure I'm the only person who will ever read this post, but it feels good to document the transformation of that room. We're just waiting to get some new chairs made. Yep, made! And maybe get a new truck? Aww, who knows. We just feel pretty fortunate to be where we are right now.

The Lord has certainly blessed us over and over and over again!

The One Where We Spend $721.15

So. The plumbers came today. And despite the fact that we rescheduled with them so they could come fix our problems on Monday and not go into overtime, they didn't actually do any work on Monday. Instead, they scheduled an appointment for today. But they charged us a transportation fee for coming to check it out. We're 10 minutes away from their home base. TEN minutes. They charge almost as much for driving here as they do per hour. $1/minute = $60/hour. We spent $120/hour for two people to work, so I guess it absolutely is the same. I think I'm in the wrong field... not that I'd like being a plumber, but still...

To add insult to injury all I can say is that the home inspector for this house must have been hallucinating. Really. Standing water in the basement? Rotten, rusty cast iron waste pipes? They very nearly crumbled in the plumbers' hands when they went to remove them. How, oh, how did the inspector not notice those things?

So I'm going to think about the new coverlet/quilt/bed spread we're getting next week. I need to preface this by saying that I am not a Kohl's girl. Not sure why... I've been in there. I've seen some cute stuff from time to time, but it's got a little of the TJ Maxx feel to me. I know cute things are there, but I'm not sure I'm into looking through racks and racks of mediocre things to find a few cute things. Anyhow, we've been looking for new bedding for ages and ages and ages. Just when we thought we'd found something we liked, my grandmother offered us a fabulous shaggy greenish-yellowish rug. I'm a sucker for a freebie, so we're going to try to make it work... That meant the buttery yellow that we had picked out has gone by the wayside. We've had to shift to a different and as yet undecided shade of yellow to go with the grayish, silvery color that Todd wants. Anyhow, after looking at the usuals (West Elm, Restoration Hardware, Pottery Barn, CB, CB2, LaylaGrace, Urban Outfitters, Anthropologie, Target, DWR, etc.), I'd just about given up hope until I saw BrooklynLimestone reference her 4th bedding set. It made me feel better, but it also made me check the comments to see if anyone had suggested alternatives. Someone suggested some godawful number at Kohl's, but it got me looking... and I think I've finally found something to satisfy Todd's architectural aesthetic while having a little pseudosophistication for me. I tried to do a print screen and paste the picture here, but it ain't happening. If you (translation: If *I* whilst rereading this years from now) want to check it out, here's the link. Scroll down to the platinum coverlet. I'm optimistic that it'll work. And if it doesn't? Well, I guess I'll just wait until we've saved up another $721.15 to buy the super fancy duvets I covet on LaylaGrace... :)

The One Where Marley Is Asleep

Our dog sleeps. Often. And well. He gets almost an inordinate amount of sleep. He has obviously moved to the right house 'cause that's about all I'd like to be doing right now. Because no one actually reads this blog, I feel like I can jump around and discuss things in any ol' sequence. Audience and purpose are two of the most important things for writers to consider, but as I have neither AND as I'm not a writer... what does it matter?

In addition to all of the little things that we've done to the house, we're about to undergo another huge transition: new windows. For 1200 square feet, we've got a ton of windows. We're replacing 16 of them, but we actually have 24. Who has 24 windows? And five that we're not replacing? They're five feet tall and and each one is about 2.5 feet wide. I'm thinking we probably have a corner on the heat loss market. It probably doesn't help that we have nary a patch of insulation in our walls either. Anyhow, just as we traded up with Cash for Clunkers, we're trading up (and selling our souls) for new windows and a measly $1500 "rebate" that we'll hopefully be able to get.

Getting new windows is a bit like the book _If You Give a Mouse a Cookie_. New windows means new window coverings. New window coverings means new window treatments. New window treatments means new bedding. And so it goes... So our venture that will cost us the same montly payment as our house payment will also yield complete disatisfaction with the decor (or lack thereof) in our two bedrooms. I know. Our world is really pretty happy, and window coverings? Is that really a problem. Nope. I guess it's just something I think about. I recognize that world peace is important... and feeding the nations... and educating the children... I know that. I just see our windows. And I wonder. And then I get thrown off by the visual insanity that I know will come in the weeks ahead. And I think that Marley has the right idea. Sleeeeep. And worry not 'cause we have no audience. I'm just sounding my barbaric yawp.

Yawp.

Yawn.

The One without a Title

So... There's no good reason not to have blogged 'cepting life just happened. Work on the house slowed down, and we started working on major repairs. Our plans to bring new plumbing to bring water INTO the house have been turned topsy-turvy by our need to get new exit pipes installed. On Thursday. Our neighbors (the ones with the father who was an on-again-off-again resident and was the scourge of the neighborhood for being on the FamilyWatchdog list) moved out. Ten days after their departure their house burned... badly. We didn't even realize it was happening. The blue lights of the police car in our front yard alerted us to the fact that something was amiss. What was amiss was the fact that 40-foot flames were leaping up out of the neighboring domicile. Not good. We've done a few things here and there, but most of our time for the last two months has been filled up with this guy.

Marley. No we didn't see the movie and get all sentimental and name him that. Nope. We read the book... Just kidding. English teacher bad joke. He came to us with that name. I'm so ignorant to dogparenting that I didn't know you could change a dog's name... oh well. C'est la vie, right? Marley it is. And I couldn't love him any more. He's perfect. He's quiet, patient, cuddly, attentive, smart... y'know, all the things dogs should be. And right now? He's got his head on my lap while I type. Really. Just that cute. Almost as cute as my grandmother shushing me in order to sneak him some table scraps. "No, Mama Jean. Don't feed him. He'll learn that begging is ok." Her reply came quickly, "Shush. I'm just going to throw it over there on the floor. If he doesn't know where it came from, he won't start begging." Really. That's what she said. And then my grandfather confessed to feeding him a smidgen of a cookie while Todd napped. Those grandparents of mine... they're suckers for a cute dog! And their granddaughters and grandson-in-laws...

So the Race for the Cure day will 'most always be Marley's homecoming day. And that's where we've been. I'm guessing I'll try to keep up with blogging more often. I want to remember these little moments...

There's Something 'bout the Southland in the Springtime

One of my favorite areas of our house is the back porch.  It still needs loads of work, but it's just layered in color.  The daffodils and camellias are just now fading, and the dianthus are bunches of green with great pink just starting to pop out.  The dogwood that reaches out over the patio is almost half covered in blooms.  There are these beautiful purple flowers that have popped up in the shade garden.  I'm sure they're weeds, but they're simply gorgeous.  I think we're about a week away from seeing the azaleas, and I'm in heaven!